Abstract

Donnelly: Two of the strongest environmental laws in the country, the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, were significantly altered with the recent passing of the federal omnibus budget bill. Join us for a discussion about the ramifications for Canada's fishery and our natural environment.

Stewart: Where every country needs a national science policy to further scientific advancement, there is an inherent tension between scientific practice and government science policy. Both the natural and social sciences require researchers be free to ask questions and employ scientific tools such as peer-review to discover answers. However as science almost always requires public funding, governments will always attempt to steer scientific endeavor to meet political objectives. With this in mind, any national science policy needs to find the right balance between funding levels and the extent to which government controls the scientific agenda. This presentation more fully outlines this tension and explains the institutions and players found in the current Canadian science ecosystem. It then moves to explain recent changes to Canada's approach to science, using current changes to the National Research Council as an example. The goal of this presentation is to generate discussion as to the future direction of Canada's National Science Policy.